The single family home is a building type synonymous with residential architecture among many in the United States. The notion that the ideal built character of a dwelling is a private structure, built on private land, and owned by a private entity is as old as that ownership equating to power in human history. Though the houses of today are no longer the literal manifestations of strength seen in the fortifications of feudal castles or wealth seen in the opulence of imperial palaces, the metaphorical implications remain.
It was on these allegories that the Post-WWII housing boom capitalized, using slogans and advertisements meant to invoke the glory and strength of owning a home. They charged that a man was not truly a man until he owned his own home, and that this American Dream can be achieved for surprisingly low prices. Thus the home was commoditized and development after development of ‘single family homes’ were replicated across the country.
70 years later, these structures which were built quickly for cost efficiency, and with a very specific ‘single family’ in mind for their residents are reaching the end of their usable lives. The architecture which replaces or adds to them has significant power to redefine the notion of a single-family home and its surrounding neighborhood. This thesis seeks to understand the current trend of redevelopment in these areas and propose alternate solutions which enrich the built character of the community and expands on the notion of what residential architecture can be. / Master of Architecture / To address the idea of what the architecture of a home can be, the first step is looking at what that definition is currently and then imagining what it has the potential to become. Through this study the home is revealed as more than the brick and mortar building, becoming instead an extension of the people who inhabit it and their surrounding neighborhood. When viewed through this perspective, the potential impact that building can have and the value it can serve to a community is dramatically increased and should therefore be a topic of significant consideration as new forms of housing are designed. Ultimately this approach will provide a wider set of dwelling options for a broader range of inhabitants within a single connected area.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/83824 |
| Date | 29 June 2018 |
| Creators | O'Hara II, John Thomas |
| Contributors | Architecture, Piedmont-Palladino, Susan C., Emmons, Paul F., Lever, David G. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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